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Word has it that Sprint is looking to debut its own high-end large-screened Android 4.1 smartphone, according to Engadget.

Sources familiar with the matter have given Engadget a host of photos and specs on the alleged ZTE-made device -- supposedly named "Vital." In addition to running on Android's Jelly Bean, the phone is said to have a 5-inch HD display, 13-megapixel rear camera, 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 8GB of internal storage, and a 2,500mAh battery. Apparently, the device will run on Sprint's 4G LTE network.

Windows 8.1 will have a couple of tricks up its sleeve for people who use fingerprint readers.

One of Monday's sessions at Microsoft's TechEd conference highlighted the support that Windows 8.1 will offer for fingerprint recognition, as described by The Verge. Prior versions of Windows handled fingerprint readers through third-party software. But Windows 8.1 will be the first edition of Windows to natively support the technology.

Users will be able to log into their PCs via a Microsoft Account, purchase apps, and open different programs with a swipe of the finger. They'll even be … Read more

Meet Acer's newest phablet, the Liquid S1. Just announced at Computex 2013, an annual tech conference in Taipei, the handset features a quad-core 1.5GHz processor, 1GB RAM, and a large 5.7-inch HD display (1,280 x 720 pixels).

Upside The success of the Galaxy Note seems to have prompted more smartphone makers to introduce larger screens for their mobile devices. The Galaxy S3's 4.8-inch display, for example, got bumped up to 5 inches with the Galaxy S4.

Recently, Samsung launched the 5.8- and 6.3-inch Galaxy Mega devices for Asia. So if you like … Read more

Just as with speakers, size matters with subwoofers. Pint-size subs can make bass, and the best mini subs can deliver fairly deep bass, but the volume capability, bass quality, and definition of baby subs can never match what you can get out of something like the $449 Hsu Research VTF-1 MK2 sub I reviewed on this blog last year. That bruiser measures 18x14x17 inches, and has a down-firing 10-inch woofer and a 200-watt amplifier. It's the best under-$500 home theater and music sub I've heard, but I was curious about Hsu's $699 VTF-3 MK4 monster, to … Read more

Pop open the champagne. Windows 8 may be on the verge of claiming installation share victory over Vista.

The latest figures from Net Applications show Windows 8 with a 4.27 percent share of PCs installed worldwide in May (up from 3.84 percent in April) versus 4.51 percent for Vista.

Vista, one of Microsoft's least popular OSes, was introduced in November of 2006.

Then again, maybe we're breaking out the champagne too soon. Windows 7 still leads by a long shot at 44.85 percent and it actually made gains in May, up from 44.72 … Read more

Intel's Atom is getting a makeover.

In more ways than one. First, when Intel speaks to customers internally about micro-architectures, Atom is out, Silvermont is in, Intel told CNET on Friday.

Second, some upcoming Silvermont silicon will be branded Pentium and Celeron -- which is the value end of Intel's Core-based mainstream chips.

The chipmaker's reasoning is that some variants of Silvermont now offer performance comparable to current mainstream Celeron and Pentium. That's quite different from the Atom of old, which had a reputation -- particularly in Netbooks -- for being slow.

Higher performance varieties of … Read more

The Android laptop is coming. Does that mean more market-share pain for Windows PCs?

Hewlett-Packard's upcoming notebook offerings speak for themselves. For $480, there's the SlateBook x2 Android "notebook". At $800, we have the Windows 8-based Split x2.

For me, the choice gets easier every time I pick up the Nexus 10 tablet that I've been using for the last month. In other words, if I'm spending about 50 percent of my time -- and doing limited-productivity stuff -- on the Nexus 10, it's not a giant leap to an Android laptop.

Nor … Read more

Space Tower Defender is not a tower defense game; rather it is a fast paced turret game in which you must destroy wave after wave of enemies before they can reach you. The quick setup, ease of entry into the mechanics, and enjoyable theme all make it a very well executed game that will keep you entertained for hours.

In Space Tower Defender, you will occupy a tower in the center of the game screen. You can turn the tower and fire by tapping anywhere on the screen around you. This is important, because shortly after starting, enemies start appearing. … Read more